


Band of Brothers (And One Sister)

by pepperpottsgoddessofmischief



Series: The Doctor's Son [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: And the word 'suicide' is only explicitly used once, Basically it's not on screen, Burns injuries (Non-graphic), Child Death (Non-Graphic), Maebh and Milo are the same person, Milo is Maebh's next regeneration, My idea of a small band of soldiers in the Time War, Prequel to further story, So I've basically written this to go before a story I'm currently writing, Soldiers, Suicide (Non-explicit), The Time War, The five are all related to each other and to The Doctor, This is explained in the full story to follow, Time Lords, very close to the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 16:59:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16664677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepperpottsgoddessofmischief/pseuds/pepperpottsgoddessofmischief
Summary: The Time War, the Time Lords are desperate. Using the genetic code of their greatest general, The Doctor, they loom five specialist soldiers. Created to be the ultimate fighting machines, a way to win the endless War. But what they have created, is the ultimate family, a tight-knit group of five.(This is a prequel to a Doctor Who re-write I'm writing, basically the idea that The Doctor wasn't the only Time Lord left. He survived with his genetically loomed child Milo, who is Maebh for a majority of the story. It'll make sense once I've edited the first chapter of the actual story)





	Band of Brothers (And One Sister)

**Author's Note:**

> So the group of five (In age order (when I say age order they're only like a day older than each other)) are Cónán (Like the barbarian) Bearach (bay-rock) Lorcan (just like it looks) Brín (breen) Maebh (like the little girl in The Forest of the Night S: 8 Ep: 10)  
> Got my names from here is anyone's interested in their meanings (https://www.dochara.com/the-irish/first-names/traditional-irish-boys-names-a-c/)  
> Basically working with the Ireland/Gallifrey thing that is mentioned in a few episodes (Especially The Family of Blood and some Classic Who eps)

The sky was meant to be dark, it was the middle of the night cycle and from their position, the Medusa Cascade should have been visible just before the horizon, countless solar systems should have been blinking right above their heads. Not tonight, tonight all Maebh could see were the Sky Trenches as they blazed across the night sky and the thick plume of black smoke coming from the mountains.

The Daleks had found an encampment of around 300 women and children earlier in the day, they’d broken through the Trenches and bombed them to dust. No one could get through the fire to get anywhere near them, so their small group of five had been sent to camp at the closest point they could get to, hoping anyone still alive would be able to get down, where they couldn’t get up.

Lorcan sat down gently next to Maebh and handed her a cup, "How you holdin’ up?"

Maebh smiled and sat up, taking the cup and hugged it to her chest for warmth, "Alright. I just," She waved her hand at the smoke cloud to their side. "I can’t help. We’re useless. So many people die and regenerate at the centre of the war...they won’t stand a chance, even the children. They’ll die before they finish the process or burn until they’re all gone."

Lorcan was silent for a moment, considering the lights of the Sky Trenches above them, "Do you think it’s still worth it?" His hands shook, and he hid them in the sleeves of his body armour. Maebh could see the pain etched deeply in his face and knew how close her brother was to the edge. She put the cup down and pulled him into a tight hug.

"We do this because to stop is to die. We do it for that little girl we saved yesterday, and the baby from the rubble the day before," She pulled back, resting her forehead against his. All Time Lords could read timelines, but reading another Time Lords was almost impossible, only flashes of the most powerful moments come through. Maebh knew what she had seen was going to happen, she just had to make sure he knew he was loved before he was gone. "I know it hurts Lorcan. I feel the same. Don’t forget you’re loved, no matter what you do. Please." Her voice caught in her throat and she closed her eyes as tears spilled down her cheeks.

Lorcan opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, mirrored tears falling. She could tell how close he was to the edge, they all felt it but had managed to push on, impossibly, through the feeling of giving up. Finally, being able to rest. All he wanted was to sleep without the dreams, even if that sleep was endless. He didn’t want to leave his siblings behind but couldn’t keep fighting anymore.

Cónán walked laps around the camp, he hated being still, not being able to help, and watched the pair out the corner of his eye. He knew they would have to say goodbye to Lorcan soon, but didn’t want to admit it to himself, it felt like defeat. He turned sharply back to the hill, the noise of falling rocks breaking him from his thoughts. He brought his gun quickly to his shoulder, "Movement!"

The other three brothers jumped to arms from their places around the camp and Maebh moved out of the line of fire, med bag open and triage tools in hand. The five soldiers stood, watching a few loose rocks tumble down the path in front of them. All stood in silence for a moment, before a girl around fifteen or sixteen, dark-skinned with a charred and burnt mop of black curls stepped through the rocks. She was clutching the hand of a boy around two, skin chalk white and eyes almost glazed over as they stumbled through the smoke to their feet.

The two stopped, frozen to the spot, the girl moving to protect the boy with her body.

Maebh stood quickly and made a hand motion to her brothers to lower their guns. She took a slow step forward, placing the equipment from her hands onto the floor, "Hello there," She took another step and saw the girl’s shoulders tense. She stopped, hands raised in the air. "It’s ok. We’re kin, look." Maebh pulled her left glove off and pushed up the sleeve of her under armour shirt, revealing a large tattoo of circular Gallifreyan characters. All soldiers were given it when they joined up, a tattoo that lasted through all your regenerations to identify you to commanding officers and civilians. When bodies were recovered, what little were found during the War, it helped them to be returned to their families.

The girl visibly relaxed, body sagging to one side. Maebh took a quick stock of her injuries as she took small steps closer. She had a large open cut on her cheek that was pouring copper-red blood and a large black burn to her abdomen.

The boy, who had now stepped out from behind the girl’s legs, was equally as injured. His hair was blackened and burnt away, patches of his scalp missing from the heat, his face was swollen and bloodied and his left arm hung at his side, unmoving. Maebh sighed and ran a hand gently through her hair. She could try to save them but the injuries were probably going to cause them to regenerate before the night was out.

"I’m Maebh. What’s your name?" She spoke softly, so as not to spook them, running a scanner from her sleeve gently over both their bodies.

"Cressida." Her voice was hoarse from the smoke and so soft that Maebh barely caught the word. Maebh quickly added damaged vocal cords to her mental list of injuries and knelt before the pair.

"And what’s your name?" She held out a hand to the boy, quickly scanning for the extent of his internal injuries. Cressida spoke up from where she was stood, swaying with exhaustion.

"I don’t know. He’s not my brother. I just saw him and...it was so hot...people were burning around us," Tears began to fall down her face, cutting trails through her ash covered cheeks. "It hurt and my mother..."

"It’s ok. We’re here to help. Bearach," The second of the group stepped forward, gun left to hang loosely at his side. Maebh smiled softly at her older brother and took Cressida’s hand gently. "He’s going to help you sit down ok. Get you something for your throat, while I help your friend. He’s a lot younger and smaller so his burns are affecting him more, his body can’t cope."

She nodded and took Bearach’s outstretched hand, "Help him. I... I don’t think he has any left...he burnt so hard and so bright. I’d never seen them happen like that."

Maebh heard Cónán curse behind her and she let out a soft, pained sigh. If the boy had no regenerations left, then he would die tonight. His tiny body was going into shock and the burns were covering more than half of his frame. All she could do now was to keep him out of pain and let him go peacefully. She took the boy gently into her arms while Bearach sat Cressida down by her med bag, digging through it for the burns balm and throat soother.

He was burning up, hotter than the fire in the centre of their camp. Maebh could feel his fast, erratic pulse and knew she could do even less than she thought, "Cónán," She whispered softly, tears escaping and falling on his face. "He needs you." Her older brother and commander didn’t need asking twice. He dropped his gun to the floor and quickly took apart his hard, outer layer of armour on his upper body and then stripped off his soft under skins, leaving his chest bare to the warm night air. He took the boy from Maebh’s arms, feeling as he visibly relaxed to the four-beat rhythm now pressed to his ear.

_"It’s ok little one. You’re safe,"_ Cónán’s deep rumble of voice had soothed too many injured children to their death. The boy’s eyes stared at the face above him, but they were sightless to everything. _"Nothing can hurt you now. Sleep, and dream of fields to run and play. Dream of the warm sun on your skin and the leaves shining above your head. Sleep little one and be free._ " He could feel the boy’s hearts slow to a stop and Lorcan wailed, falling to his knees and tearing at his hair. They all hated seeing children die. When millions died in the War each day, children were a precious miracle that were fiercely protected.

Maebh swallowed back the tears and turned to the mountain. She was shaking in anger, hands balled in fists at her sides. Brín stepped to her side, gently uncurling her fists and taking them in hand. He wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her side. Her head fell to his shoulder and she screamed out a sob.

_"I know Maebh, I know,"_ He rubbed her back and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. _"He doesn’t hurt now. And we’ll remember him. Just like Ophelia and Korvor and all the others."_ She nodded slowly, weak with the mental exhaustion.

"I need to help my patient Brín." She took a deep breath and stepped out of his embrace, turning back to Cressida and helping to calm the girl. She worked through the early stages of healing her burn but wasn’t hopeful. When Cressida laid down in a fitful sleep the five worked together to collect wood for the little boy’s pyre, it was always the hardest work and Maebh watched as it broke Lorcan.

Once the pyre was set Brín cleaned the body and found a spare set of under armour for the boy to wear. It helped to hide the most of his injuries and all whispered their goodbyes as it was lit. Cressida awoke to speak a family prayer and Maebh reapplied another layer of burns treatment.

"I wish I had saved someone, anyone," The light was dancing in the girl’s eyes as she stared, unblinking at the fire. "There were so many of us up there...I don’t think we’ll survive this, the War. I don’t see how we can."

"Hope, Cressida, hope is all we can have. It’s not much but, in times like this, it’s enough." The girl looked up at Maebh with a soft smile and nodded. They talked until she fell asleep and Maebh stood, taking stock of her brothers around the camp.

Cónán, sat by the pyre, watching the wood burn and crackle. He was strong with nerves of steel. Hands like shovels and a voice that could drone out the loudest noises around them. Break the surface and he was delicate, he loved animals, the tiny birds that landed in the woodland flocked to him when he sat, watching the light dancing on the leaves.

Bearach was the silent type, who worked, as he was now, on keeping their weapons in perfect working order. The one who could think like a Dalek and their supporters. The strategist amongst soldiers and medics. He worked undercover to prepare an area for the rest of his siblings to work. He didn’t talk about what he had seen and avoided sleep at all costs, but he was the first to offer help for any of his siblings.

Lorcan was just quiet, he listened and suffered in silence. He struggled with the War, with the death they saw but he had a wicked sense of humour. He kept them all entertained on those cold, lonely nights. Maebh sighed when she couldn’t spot him around the camp. She knew, as they all did, that they probably wouldn’t see him anymore.

Brín wore his heart on his sleeve, always ready to provide comfort. In fact, he looked as Maebh felt, pain etched on his face at their lost brother. He was the one that empathised with the mothers who were childless. The one who could tell instantly the father who had just lost his only son, who knew just the words to say. He was the baby of the brothers and they protected him with their lives.

Maebh slipped down onto the floor next to Brín silently. He turned to his younger sister and sighed, "We’re going to lose him tonight, aren’t we?" Maebh nodded but couldn’t utter the words. Each of her brothers were a bright spark in her mind, their way to communicate and to know where the other was. Lorcan was making his way through the woods, around half a mile from their camp.

"I won’t leave you Maebh. I promise. No matter what they do to me, I’ll never leave you."

"I know Brín," She took her brother’s hand and held it tight. "And I you."

The camp was silent, they all waited with bated breath.

Maebh gasped a soft breath and let her head fall to her chest. That mental spark, so quintessentially Lorcan, had gone. She heard Cónán cry out a wail and let the tears fall. Their band of brothers fell from five to four, as Lorcan ceased to live.

oOoOoOo

"Milo?" The Doctor’s voice was rough and Northern, and it made Milo smile, despite the pain in his heart. He couldn’t believe it had only been a year. A year of war, a year of lost brothers. A year since Lorcan had committed suicide. He was living with The Doctor now, they were all that was left of their once proud people. He turned to The Doctor and took the two offered bouquets.

Flowers had meanings on Earth and Milo had carefully selected them for his fallen brother and the child he couldn’t save. White calla lilies for innocence and beauty. Red carnations for love and pride. Lilac for the boy’s innocence and Lorcan’s lost childhood. Two large red blooming poppies each for remembrance, and a purple hyacinth for the pain Milo felt at his regret to save them both.

He took a deep breath, taking in the fragrant scent of the flowers, "Thank you Doctor, for this. They began the last horrible year of the War. I can never forget them. I promised."

The Doctor placed his hand on Milo’s shoulder in comfort, "Quite right." They both waited for a moment and then The Doctor stepped back, "I’ll give you however long you need." The younger nodded and stepped to the river in front of him. The Doctor had landed them on a beautiful planet, all mountains and rivers and meadows. He knelt at the side of the river and placed both of the bouquets in the running water, he watched them both until they washed under the water and let his tears mix with the wash.

"Goodbye my brothers," He whispered and stood quickly, wiping his eyes on his shirt sleeves. He took the route back to the Tardis slowly, thinking about that day again. He stopped at the door and rated his forehead against the wood. "On to pastures new, eh old girl?"

He heard the hum of response back from the Tardis and smiled, pushing the door open and stepping into his future.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this, it hasn't been properly edited as I couldn't wait to get this work off the ground, but let me tell you something if you hang on for the rest of the story you're in for a loooong ride. If something didn't make sense drop me a comment and I'll try and explain, a lot of the stuff you might ask will get explained once I publish chapter one: Rose. Probably won't be until the beginning of December as I have a uni assignment due in a week.


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